True to form, as soon as Niu Dahua returned from selling vegetables in town, she made sure to spread the word far and wide in Jiuping Village about An Jing and Xiao Changyi’s fermented tofu business.
The people of Jiuping Village learned that An Jing and Xiao Changyi had crafted fermented tofu from regular tofu, and that this food item even sold for ten coins per catty, and there were even many buyers, quickly selling out their stock, which made everyone both envious and jealous.
They work themselves to death for a whole day and only earn fifteen coins!
Some were so overwhelmed with jealousy that they couldn’t get over it, grinding their teeth in frustration for a while before deciding that they couldn’t just keep their resentments to themselves. Resultingly, they all headed to the only tofu maker in Jiuping Village—Madam Liuhua’s house.
"Liuhua, your family has been making tofu for so many years, how come you haven’t come up with this food item? Look at An Jing and Xiao Changyi—what kind of people are they, yet they managed to create it. Plus, one catty of their fermented tofu is worth more than three catties of your family’s tofu."
"Niu Dahua even said that they sold twenty to thirty catties today. That’s two to three hundred coins, you know. How long would your family need to sell tofu to earn that much?"
Everyone chimed in one after another, making Aunt Liu Hua and Wu Dashan grit their teeth in irritation.
Niu Dahua’s mouth had long been spreading An Jing and Xiao Changyi’s business throughout the village. Aunt Liu Hua and Wu Dashan already knew about it, and were already feeling a mix of envy and resentment. Little did they know, so many people would come to their house making insinuating remarks, just to rub salt in their wounds. They were so angry that they wanted to chase these people away with a broom.
It wasn’t until these people left that Wu Dashan finally erupted, kicking over the stool in front of him: "What kind of damn good fortune did they stumble upon!"
"That’s enough, don’t be angry. Being upset is pointless," Aunt Liu Hua said, her mood obviously not good.
Wu Dashan stopped talking, but he kept grinding his teeth, feeling itchy with irritation.
Wu Xiaoshan, Madam Liuhua’s youngest son, just sat in the corner. Even though he didn’t speak, he was very angry too. Their family had never been ridiculed before—today was the first time!
Wu Dashan’s wife, Liniang, had already hidden inside the house to soothe the children.
It was Father Wu who was curious, "How did they come up with the idea for fermented tofu?"
But what use was curiosity when there was no one to answer his question.
After a long silence, Aunt Liu Hua finally suggested, "Head of the household, since selling fermented tofu is so profitable, we should also make and sell it."
Before Father Wu could respond, Wu Dashan interjected, "Mother, no one in our family knows how to make fermented tofu."
"You figure it out!" Liuhua demanded. "Tomorrow, ask someone from town to buy two taels of fermented tofu from An Jing, and you and your brother can study it. If they could figure it out, you two can certainly do it too."
Father Wu agreed, "This is a good idea."
The next day, Wu Dashan really did have someone buy two taels of fermented tofu from An Jing. As soon as he brought the fermented tofu home, Wu Dashan and Wu Xiaoshan started to try to figure it out, examining how to make it.
After tasting it for a long time, they still had no clue.
In the end, Wu Dashan and Wu Xiaoshan simply started experimenting directly with tofu, frying, boiling, and stewing it, to see if they could produce something like the fermented tofu.
However, no matter what they did, they couldn’t replicate it, and they even wasted a lot of tofu and firewood.
Seeing so much tofu wasted, Aunt Liu Hua and her family were extremely distressed, not wanting to waste any more as they couldn’t afford it, being a poor household. They had no choice but to give up on the idea of making fermented tofu, and return to selling regular tofu honestly.